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Article: YOU GOT THE LOOK.(protecting rights to product's design under trade dress theory)

Article from:
Entrepreneur
Article date:
July 1, 1999
Author:
Copyright

And if anyone tries to steal it, you can take'em to court.

After three years, you've established a market niche for your specially designed widgets. Then it happens: A retail chain brings out a line of widgets that looks suspiciously like yours, right down to its design. You can already picture your market share dwindling. But what can you do?

Call your lawyer. Even if your product has no patent or registered trademark, a court can protect your right to the product's design and overall look under the "trade dress" theory. This is a more subtle concept than that of patents, which protect inventions, and copyrights, which protect literary and artistic ...

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